Erica Smithwick
DIRECTOR of the Center for Landscape Dynamics and Landscape Ecology at Penn State lab (LEAPS) | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
Erica Smithwick is an expert in the environment and ecosystem ecology.
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Industry Expertise (3)
Research
Energy
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Areas of Expertise (5)
Landscape
Carbon Storage
Ecosystem Ecology
Biogeochemistry
Climate Change
Biography
Erica Smithwick works at the interface of landscape and ecosystem ecology, focusing on the influence of spatial patterns on ecosystem function. She explores how fire patterns (e.g., “pyrogeography”) influence soil biogeochemistry and carbon storage. In the face of increasing concern about fire in human-dominated landscapes, the understanding of the causes and ecological consequences of fire is critical to local and landscape level management. As such, her research is relevant to landscape-level conservation management as well as global change biology. More generally, she is interested in how scale and spatial patterns of disturbance processes can be better modeled so that forecasts of climate change can better incorporate dominant disturbance dynamics. However, she also integrate both laboratory and experimental studies on soil and ecosystem biogeochemistry, and am increasingly interested in spatial statistics (geostatistics), network theory, and Bayesian approaches for understanding and scaling ecosystem complexity. She primarily work in three geographic locations: Africa (Ghana and South Africa), The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Wyoming – USA), and the Northeast. A majority of my research occurs in natural reserves or parks, which can serve as benchmarks for ecosystem function and coupled human-nature interactions.
Education (3)
Oregon State: Ph.D., Forest Science/Ecology 2002
University of Montana: M.S., Resource Conservation (Forestry) 1997
Tufts University: B.S., Geological Sciences/Environmental Studies 1995
Links (2)
Articles (5)
A decade of colonization: the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito in Pennsylvania and implications for disease risk
Journal of Vector Ecology
Eric D Taber, Michael L Hutchinson, Erica AH Smithwick, Justine I Blanford
2017 In recent decades, the Asian tiger mosquito expanded its geographic range throughout the northeastern United States, including Pennsylvania. The establishment of Aedes albopictus in novel areas raises significant public health concerns, since this species is a highly competent vector of several arboviruses, including chikungunya, West Nile, and dengue. In this study, we used geographic information systems (GIS) to examine a decade of colonization by Ae. albopictus throughout Pennsylvania between 2001 and 2010. We examined the spatial and temporal distribution of Ae. albopictus using spatial statistical analysis and examined the risk of dengue virus transmission using a model that captures the probability of transmission. Our findings show that since 2001, the Ae. albopictus population in Pennsylvania has increased, becoming established and expanding in range throughout much of the state. Since 2010, imported cases of dengue fever have been recorded in Pennsylvania. Imported cases of dengue, in combination with summer temperatures conducive for virus transmission, raise the risk of local disease transmission.
Predicting root zone soil moisture with soil properties and satellite near-surface moisture data across the conterminous United States
Journal of Hydrology
D Baldwin, S Manfreda, K Keller, EAH Smithwick
2017 Satellite-based near-surface (0–2 cm) soil moisture estimates have global coverage, but do not capture variations of soil moisture in the root zone (up to 100 cm depth) and may be biased with respect to ground-based soil moisture measurements. Here, we present an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) hydrologic data assimilation system that predicts bias in satellite soil moisture data to support the physically based Soil Moisture Analytical Relationship (SMAR) infiltration model, which estimates root zone soil moisture with satellite soil moisture data.
Deer feeding selectivity for invasive plants
Biological invasions
Kristine M Averill, David A Mortensen, Erica AH Smithwick, Eric Post
2016 Native generalist herbivores might limit plant invasion by consuming invading plants or enhance plant invasion by selectively avoiding them. The role of herbivores in plant invasion has been investigated in relation to plant native/introduced status, however, a knowledge gap exists about whether food selection occurs according to native/introduced status or to species. We tested preference of the native herbivore white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) for widespread and frequently occurring invasive introduced and native plants in the northeastern United States.
Landscape fragmentation as a risk factor for Buruli ulcer disease in Ghana
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
Jianyong Wu, Erica AH Smithwick
2016 Land cover and its change have been linked to Buruli ulcer (BU), a rapidly emerging tropical disease. However, it is unknown whether landscape structure affects the disease prevalence. To examine the association between landscape pattern and BU presence, we obtained land cover information for 20 villages in southwestern Ghana from high resolution satellite images, and analyzed the landscape pattern surrounding each village.
Grassland productivity in response to nutrient additions and herbivory is scale-dependent
PeerJ
Erica AH Smithwick, Douglas C Baldwin, Kusum J Naithani
2016 Vegetation response to nutrient addition can vary across space, yet studies that explicitly incorporate spatial pattern into experimental approaches are rare. To explore whether there are unique spatial scales (grains) at which grass response to nutrients and herbivory is best expressed, we imposed a large (∼3.75 ha) experiment in a South African coastal grassland ecosystem. In two of six 60 × 60 m grassland plots, we imposed a scaled sampling design in which fertilizer was added in replicated sub-plots (1 × 1 m, 2 × 2 m, and 4 × 4 m). The remaining plots either received no additions or were fertilized evenly across the entire area.
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